DIY Audio questions and answers - Genera plus PSU1 or other linear supply

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Genera plus PSU1 or other linear supply

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Topic: Genera plus PSU1 or other linear supply

Posted By: tg [RIP]
Subject: Genera plus PSU1 or other linear supply
Date Posted: 13 Oct 2010 at 6:27am

Has anyone tried this ?

If so, to what effect ?

Replies:

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 18 Oct 2010 at 10:46pm

Hi TG

Looks like no one has. I just ordered my Genera kit last I decided, that despite my love of MC I really did need a decent MM phono in the house - sometimes I want to play something that really rocks

But I have the PSU1 with the Reflex C, so I will eventually get to try the combo.

cheers

Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 20 Oct 2010 at 9:39pm

I haven't but am very tempted because I could run my Genera and Novo from one PSU1... and when I eventually buy a Solo UL I would buy it with the green psu.

But in the nearer future your observations on Genera with PSU1 would be very helpful gmdb. And the Genera is very good on every level, including the kit which I have eulogised about elsewhere.

Best wishes

Jon

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Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 25 Nov 2010 at 7:30am

Well I inadvertently tried the PSU1 with the Genera. I told my wife that the Genera could run off the better Graham Slee PSU and she switched them over without telling me. So there I am going Wow, this Genera is just getting so good, its getting closer and closer to the sound of the MC system.

It helps to understand I think that I started out listening to the Genera on an old Dual 1219. Great turntable, just a pity about the tonearms on them. I now have it on my second Rega, playing a couple of $200 carts. The arm on the second Rega is a standard RB250 and I am really starting to appreciate what good arms they are, even when unmodded.

With the PSU1 in place, on some records the second Rega delivers a more enjoyable listening experience than my first system which has the Reflex C as its phono stage and a Michell Tecnoarm (essentially it's a modded P3-24). Why I have been asking myself? And I think the answer has to do with the fact that my MC system retrieves so much detail that on some records the music gets in the way of the song. Does this make any sense?

So matching the Genera with the PSU1 gets you close to the openness that you get from MC, improves clarity at the mid-range and high end and improves the already decent MM bass, making it just a bit more round and tight. I know some people love what I call "fat" bass but I'm not one of them. I play quite a bit of reggae and "fat" bass turns reggae to mush.

Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2010 at 10:52pm

Thanks Geoff, I just ordered a PSU1 and I am now very glad I did it. I'll share my comments after it arrives. Your description of the clear midrange and tight bass has increased my anticipation.

Jon

Update:

It is indeed a step up from the Green PSU that comes with the Genera. The PSU1 does cost more than the Genera itself but it further refines the preamp's transparent and rhythmic sound.

Posted By: tg [RIP]
Date Posted: 26 Nov 2010 at 11:08pm

Good info Geoff & Jon

Sounds like the sort of thing I might have expected from recent tinkering of my own with a few other things.

Big, clean, power supplies seem to have a lot to contribute in many areas of audio reproduction.

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 6:57am

I originally came to the a better understanding of power supplies in a roundabout way. Before I was in the doubters camp. I was getting too many bizarre hums in my system that were none of the obvious things. So, on advice, I tried a decent mains filter system and that resolved the problems as well as improving the overall sound reproduction. But sound is such an objective things that I found the the easiest way of demonstrating what impact a mains filter had was by plugging my old Sony CRT TV into it. The improvement in the quality of the picture was dramatic.

With a dedicated PSU designed for a particular piece of equipment then the result should only be better.

I do wonder however if there are places where it wouldn't be necessary e.g. places that do in fact have a consistent power supply. This is not the case in Brisbane: here we have frequent brown-outs (quite spooky those ones; black outs; lighting strikes and a power-supply that can fluctuate between 220 and 280v. In these conditions it seems obvious that a PSU that delivers clean constant power is going to be an improvement. The logic defies any doubts I previously had.

One thing I remain unsure about is whether it is best to run the PSU1 on the mains filter board or direct from the house mains plug. Heed with their offboard turntable PSU advise not to run it off a mains filter. I think the reason is that having two boxes "tinkering" with the power supply is likely to lead to them interfering with each other, rather than working together.

Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 27 Nov 2010 at 4:14pm

That is a good tip about the CRT TV, a lot of the beam timing would be based on the mains frequency so any transients or harmonics could mess the picture up.

At the moment I am running a mains filter each from a pair of mains sockets, with the amplifiers on one and sources on the other. My thinking was to separate the current surges on the amps from the hopefully cleaner supply to the lower power devices.

In the Genera blog Graham wrote something insightful (as he usually does) about the role of the power supply, that the output of an active component was essentially the power supply modulated by the source signal. He wrote it more clearly than that but it fits with the postings about low noise regulators, linear regulation and echoes what we have written about the audible effects.

TG and Geoff (and anyone else reading!), I'll probably have my PSU1 for the Christmas break and in between the Melbourne and Sydney Tests*, I will try out your idea. Namely using the PSU1 directly from the mains and via a mains filter. I shall see if I can hear a difference, but it's not really a blind test because of the physical changes that are needed.

*Australia is a great country with nice people and generally better Cricket grounds than ours. The Ashes Tests are one of the top contests in sport. May the best team win the Ashes, and it was 28C in Brisbane whilst it was 28F here.

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 12:37pm

Hi Jon

Thanks for the extra info about CRT. I didn't know why; I could just see that it was a great improvement. However, it's one of the reasons that we have only been rarely tempted to go to a flat screen TV. The CRT through the mains filter is just so good, and I have never had the heart to tell my friends who spent so much money on their flat screen TVs that they really needed to put some extra money into a mains filtering system to get it to work properly.

I will be very interested to hear your experiences with the PSU1. I feel in love with Brit technology when I bought my first QED amp in the late 80s. Up until then I had only been able to afford a $300 Japanese amp with boomy bass. I think I paid $500 for the QED, an in-store demonstration unit. It knocked me out at the time. Now I have a custom made valve amp from a guy in Sydney and a cheap solid state amp from REDGUM in Melbourne. The latter is the closest I have heard yet in a modern day amp that gets what the QED had. Although the custom made valve amp is now streets ahead (and at $700 we are talking a small miracle here.) And then I stumbled across Graham's work... and I could not believe what he was doing. It's only a phono amp, I keep telling myself, but it makes the music come alive.

Even though I live in Brisbane, I'm not that interested in the first test match much. Here they are just sizing each other up. Melbourne and Sydney will be the crucial ones. Always like the Australians to be challenged and lose one. They are far too cocky otherwise. Just wish the selectors would stop chopping and changing the team so much.

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 28 Nov 2010 at 12:46pm

I should have mentioned that both the QED amps and the REDGUM amps use a huge toroidal transformer in their design, and that might explain the similarities in their sound.

Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2010 at 5:55pm

Hi Geoff, I have a Cambridge Audio amp which also has a huge toroidal transformer inside. I am curious about the idea that the geometry of the core and coils might have any audible effect, can anyone shed any light (or sound!) or this please?

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Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.

Posted By: gmdb
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2010 at 5:58am

Hi Jon

I am not up much on the technicalities of toroidal transformers, but they are supposed to be more efficient and produce lower external fields -- hence they are the preferred transformers in hospital equipment.

Once it was rare that you would find them in budget amps because they are more costly to produce. I'm not sure if this is still the case.

This link makes an attempt to explain why they are superior:

http://www.soundlab-speakers.com/tech_toroid.htm

cheers

Geoff

Posted By: Graham Slee
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2010 at 2:00pm

They also have a high initial surge current which makes fuse size selection very difficult when it comes to complying with mains safety directives (such as IEC60950).

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That none should be able to park up and enjoy the view without a smartphone and the knowledge in how to use apps

Posted By: Fatmangolf
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2010 at 6:06pm

Thank you both!

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Jon

Open mind and ears whilst owning GSP Genera, Accession M, Accession MC, Elevator EXP, Solo ULDE, Proprius amps, Cusat50 cables, Lautus digital cable, Spatia cables and links, and a Majestic DAC.